On the recordJanuary 1, 2021
I voted against the motions to proceed and invoke cloture on overriding the President's veto of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 because, at this time of national crisis, the Senate's first order of business should be getting more relief to struggling American families. That means the Senate should have held a clean up-or-down vote on the House-passed measure to increase the amount of the individual stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000. The Senate could have easily passed both the additional payments and completed the business of the NDAA veto override this week had Senator McConnell and the GOP majority been willing to do so. Given the President's purported support of this relief, it could have been signed into law this week. But instead of delivering this additional help to struggling American families, the Republican majority repeatedly blocked requests to pass the additional relief by unanimous consent and refused to schedule an up-or-down vote. That said, I support the underlying National Defense Authorization Act.…
